NBA Trade Rumors: The Los Angeles Lakers may have quietly tried to lowball their way toward landing an All-Star guard ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline.
As the midway point of the season quickly approaches, the Los Angeles Lakers are within striking distance of finishing the season as a potential top-3 team in the Western Conference standings. They're just two games back of the fourth seed and two games back (in the loss column) of the third seed. Anything and everything could be on the table for the Lakers heading into the second half of the season.
However, if there's one thing that could drastically help this team, it's a big move at the NBA Trade Deadline. Even after making the move for Dorian Finney-Smith, the Lakers would greatly benefit from another splash move to put this team in a position to make a run down the stretch. According to a recent report, the Lakers did quietly attempt to make a move for All-Star guard Zach LaVine.
The Los Angeles Lakers made a call on Zach LaVine
According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Lakers and Bulls held talks centered around a trade of LaVine. In the end, though, those discussions didn't go anywhere. That leads me to believe that the Lakers were attempting to lowball their offer toward getting a deal done in the shadows. At least for now, it continues to appear as if the Bulls are not willing to trade LaVine for pennies on the dollar.
With the way he's played so far this season, it would make sense that the Bulls aren't going to dump LaVine in a deal. However, it will be interesting to see if the discussion around LaVine begins to change any in the final few weeks before the NBA Trade Deadline. Chicago clearly still finds value in trading LaVine and you'd imagine they're going to have to move aggressively if it's going to happen. At the same time, if teams aren't going to make serious offers, it's going to be difficult for Chicago to find a deal that makes sense.
Ultimately, it could come down to just how desperate the Bulls are to trade LaVine. For a team like the Lakers, who have a clear need in the backcourt, it's easy to see why LaVine may be a natural trade target. I'd like to say that I'm pretty confident that LaVine will be traded before the deadline but if teams aren't going to make serious offers, I'd have my concerns.
If LaVine does end up being traded, though, the Lakers are certainly one team to keep an eye on. However, if the recent reporting is any indication, they may not be ready to meet the asking price of the Bulls just yet.